Here’s what happening at the Beard House next week:
Tuesday, February 23, 7:00 P.M.
Another Taste of PerfectionFrom its perch on the 24th floor of the Grand Pequot Tower at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Paragon lives up to its name—literally and figuratively—with Scott Mickelson’s French- and Asian-inflected cuisine. An apex of sophistication and a standard-bearer for fine-dining restaurants, Paragon reaches great heights.
Wednesday, February 24, 7:00 P.M.
Toujours Le Bec-FinGeorges Perrier ushered in Philadelphia’s dining renaissance when he opened his now-iconic restaurant, Le Bec-Fin, in 1970. Four decades later, with the help of extraordinarily talented executive chef Nicholas Elmi, Perrier’s venera

Pastry prodigy Pichet Ong served three desserts at our Valentine's Day dinner. One of them was this malted kulfi, which was topped with caramel popcorn, spiced chocolate sauce, and muckwa confetti. (Kulfi is India's answer to ice cream; muckwa is candied fennel seed.)
See more photos of the seductive dinner here.
(Photo by Bobbi Lin)

Behind every great chef is a resourceful and tireless purveyor, and many of America's best kitchens rely on D'Artagnan founder Ariane Daguin, whose valuable stock of foie gras, terrines, and other fine meat products is without peer. To celebrate her company's 25th anniversary, we've invited Daguin and a cadre of Gascon chefs to prepare a decadent Beard House tasting inspired by the D'Artagnan catalog, complete with regional wines and fine Armagnacs. Take a gander at the menu below:
Hors d’OeuvreFoie Gras and Black Truffle TartineChestnut SoupLaguiole Cheese Rolls with Salsify and Duck ProsciuttoWild Boar Bacon–Wrapped PrunesDinnerCreamy Tarbais Bean Soup with Black TrufflesPan-Seared Foie Gras with Caramelized Apples and Sweet-and-Sour SaucePigs’ Foot and Porcini StewHazelnut-Crusted Venison Medallion with Tru

A chef wields a blowtorch to brûlée servings of ginger-scented tuna, which were paired with pickled ginger pearls and kabayaki. The dish appeared in a tasting menu prepared by a group of talented convention center chefs.
Check out more photos from the event here.
(Photo by Philip Gross)

A restaurant doesn’t have to serve fried chicken or pie to be an America’s Classic. Our list of America’s Classics represents the wide variety of cultures, cuisines, and people that make up the country’s food scene. At first mention, Japanese food might not seem like a natural choice, but Maneki is a perfect example of a classic American eatery.
Maneki is a family-owned enterprise whose roots stretch back to the early years of the twentieth century. Some believe it was founded in 1904. Others claim a date of 1911. No matter; it’s the only surviving restaurant from Seattle’s once bustling Japantown. Since 1974, the Nakayama family has been at the helm, first Kozo, now his wife, Jean. Maneki has long claimed a place at the center of Seattle’s Japanese-American community. In the 1930s one of the restaurant’s dishwashers was a University of Washington student named Takeo Miki, who later served, f